Talk Talk Is STalk STalking their customers

Hi AllDid you know that Talk Talk Is STalk STalking their customers?See:[quote="TalkTalk turns StalkStalk to build malware blocker"]TalkTalk turns StalkStalk to build malware blockerUnheralded system shadows browsers round the webIt's less TalkTalk, more StalkStalk: the UK's second largest ISP has quietly begun following its customers around the web and scanning what they look at for a new anti-malware system it is developing.Without telling customers, the firm has switched on the compulsory first part of the system, which is harvesting lists of the URLs every one of them visits. It often then follows them to the sites to scan for threats.The data will be used by the second part of the system, which will block potentially dangerous sites at network level.

Im Being Monitored/Watched?[quote="Statement from TalkTalk administrators"]Hi,There are two parts to the Security/Parental Control system:- a URL capture and checker- an opt-in warning and control systemThe first one has bee switched on to start collecting URLs. This is completely none identifiable and simply uses the URL to look for malware and to categories the content (on a personal note, TT perhaps should have given people the heads-up that this was being tested/switched on).The opt-in system then bases it decision to warn or prevent someone from visiting URLs. Remember, the decision to visit the flagged URL is entirely down to the account holder The only thing stored about the account holder is their opt-in status and their settings for what to do regarding certain categories of content (this is the paretal guidance part).So, no; you haven't been identified and it's absolutely nothing like phorm (which does store your details and does identify you and does personalise/replace content based on you).Hope this clarifies things.

TalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administratorTalkTalk administrator[quote="TalkTalk administrator"]Hello all,Here is some more information from Clive about our Network Security:You may have read this week about our trial of scanning web pages. It’s certainly created a debate among those who follow our industry and on our Members Forum. It’s a discussion we welcome and I’d like to use this blog to answer questions and get feedback as we progress with the testing.To provide some context, we’re doing this trial in advance of offering a free opt-in product that will warn customers if their computer or device connected to their home broadband is viewing a page that contains viruses or threats.We see this as important as online security experts estimate that at least 70% of malware is caught from an infected webpage – with most of these web pages having been hacked. So if we scan these pages we can make the web safer without our customers having to install or update anything.How do we do this? The scanning engines are given an anonymised list of webpage URLs that have been visited by our customers (so no personal data such as a telephone number, account number or IP address will be included). They then check to see if each individual webpage is on a whitelist or blacklist of scanned sites. If not, the webpage is scanned for threats.Many customers tell us that they still see the web as being a bit like the ‘wild west’ and in just a few weeks the scanning engines have found tens of thousands of websites which are deemed threatening. While on the face of it that’s quite a worrying statistic it’s reassuring that the technology exists to identify these potentially dangerous sites. As our trial progresses we will be inviting customers to test this new technology, ensuring that it meets the high standards that both TalkTalk and our customers demand.We will be launching the network security service later in the year and it will be available to all TalkTalk customers for free if they opt in. In the meantime if you’ve got any views or questions you’d like answering please post here or via our Members Forum.

Re: Talk Talk Is STalk STalking their customers

Just to let you know that Opal Telecom is the business broadband and telephone provider of TalkTalkFrom Charles Dunstone to a Website owner:[quote="Hatari owner of Phoenix Broadband Advice Community "]"As I have previously stated, we do not consider ourselves liable for any of these invoices you keep generating, they go straight into my trash folder.Whether you keep sending them is your choice, but we are keeping no record of them.RegardsCharles Dunstone"Followed by"This has also gone straight into the trash folder. Your understanding of of English law is so laughably naïve, that I haven’t even bothered to forward it to our legal team.RegardsCharles Dunstone"

Re: Talk Talk Is STalk STalking their customers

If you use STalk STalk as your ISP you will be using it! There is No optin for the Stalking or optout, if you use STalk STalk as your ISP thay say that you give them permission to use the Huawei kit to Stalk you on the internet to any site that you go to.

Re: Talk Talk Is STalk STalking their customers

I don't really understand why you think this is an issue ?From what you have said so far, TT are introducing a new service that can only be of benefit their own customers, who can opt to use the service or not.In order to improve the accuracy and relevance of that service, TT are targeting their filtering database based on the URLs that their customers ACTUALLY use, rather than waste unnecessary resources on categorizing the whole internet (like Google does) on URLs that their customers may NEVER visit. There is no suggestion that individual customers surfing habits are being analysed.So where's the problem ? - or have I missed the point ?

Re: Talk Talk Is STalk STalking their customers

So where's the problem ? 5 seconds into thinking about the issues a problem would be when they start selling on , any gathered information tointerested third parties that maybe interested in peoples buying habitswhere their shop, what they buy and how often others do the same and your home and private life is bombarded with extra junk mail and your email box gets extra daily spam emailfrom these businesses

Re: Talk Talk Is STalk STalking their customers

Yes you have missed the point. STalk STalk protends to be you so if you are on an online game you get kicked off, plus you do not get to choos if to have the url that you go to tracked or not, it is not a optin or optout, you are optin by STalk STalk by default with been a STalk STalk customer.The Huawei kit follows you to the site with in 25 seconds or 30 seconds of you going to the site.[Edit]Just in: TalkTalk announces round of price rises

Re: Talk Talk Is STalk STalking their customers

[quote=Midnight Caller ]STalk STalk protends to be you so if you are on an online game you get kicked offFirstly where does it say that they pretend to be you ? if the target URL cannot be accessed by the scanning service from an IP address other than your own, then the data collected will have no statistical relevance and therefore they wouldn't bother making any effort doing so, especially as their system will have literally thousands of other more hits per second on URLs that are of wider interest.

[quote=giro]a problem would be when they start selling on , any gathered information to interested third parties that maybe interested in peoples buying habitsThere is nothing here to suggest that this would ever happen.

[quote=giro]how often others do the same and your home and private life is bombarded with extra junk mail and your email box gets extra daily spam emailNot very often, and when it happens it is usually easily blocked. Nearly all the SPAM I still receive can be traced back to when Force9's insecure systems were hacked and my email mailbox details were harvested.